The present disclosure relates generally to environmental control systems, and more particularly, to an auxiliary heat exchanger for a heat pipe.
Environmental control systems are utilized in residential, commercial, and industrial environments to control environmental properties, such as temperature and humidity, for occupants of the respective environments. The environmental control system may control the environmental properties through control of an airflow delivered to the environment. For example, a heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) system may include a heat pipe heat exchanger that is configured to circulate a working fluid, such as a volatile fluid, through an evaporator coil and a condenser coil without mechanical force. For instance, the working fluid evaporates, or changes from a liquid state to a vapor state, as the working fluid absorbs heat from a first air flow in the evaporator coil. As the working fluid evaporates, a pressure differential is created within the heat pipe, which directs the gaseous working fluid to flow toward and into the condenser coil. The gaseous working fluid then condenses, or changes from the gaseous state to a liquid state, by releasing the heat that was absorbed in the evaporator to a second air flow.
When the second air flow is at a relatively high temperature, the condenser coil may not sufficiently cool the working fluid, such that the working fluid condenses to the liquid state. As such, systems that employ traditional heat pipes generally include an additional cooling coil that is disposed within a flow path of the first air flow. Unfortunately, positioning the additional cooling coil within the flow path of the first air flow increases an amount of fan power utilized to draw air across the evaporator coil and increases an overall size of an air handling system having the heat pipe heat.